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“Why?”
He tries to swallow. “I’m new.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re too old to be a new recruit. Estrada wants fresh blood or Maldonado crew.”
“It’s true.”
Lou strides over, three steps bringing him to my side. “Thick scars covered his knuckles.”
I nod. “I noticed that when I stuck the ice pick between his fingers.”
“Do you think he’s—”
“Yes,” I cut in. “Of course, I fucking do, but I don’t know why.”
“Are you going to ask?” Lou sarcastically suggests.
I scoff. “After he’s just lied to me?”
“I wasn’t lying!” the captive shrieks, staring at my boning knife. “I’m not. I’m not.”
“You are,” I insist, rolling my eyes. “Someone cut the M off your knuckle and scarred the others to look like an injury. I’ve seen this before. I’m not an idiot.”
“No,” he argues.
“You used to be a Maldonado,” I say softly, nodding my head at Lou. “Do you know who I am?”
The captive tries to look away from me, but he can’t turn his head far enough. “Ge—Gemma. That’s what they told me.”
“No. I’m not.” Dried blood cracks on my face as I smirk. “I’m Jasper.”
“You chose the wrong side,” Lou tells him as he jams a thin blade into the captive’s throat.
Aloysius drags the knife through his skin, tearing tendons and arteries. Blood oozes from the man’s neck, and I smile at him until his eyes lose their shine, until he’s dead… So he remembers his mistake in his next life.
“What do you want to do with him?” Lou asks, wiping his hands with a once-white cloth.
“Drop him in the warehouse district.”
“For Estrada?” he guesses, releasing the pulley so the man drops to the floor.
“Yeah.” I groan at myself, the bigger problem feeling like a ton of bricks on my back. “He wasn’t lying about that part... I didn’t recognize him at first, but I did after I saw his hands and his wrist tattoo. He used to be one of us. I don’t know when he flipped sides, though. That’s a huge fucking issue. How many more will leave?”
Lou frowns at me as he understands my dilemma. “How many have already flipped and are lying in wait?”
“Right…” I slowly acknowledge. “I’ve got to clean house without alerting anyone that it’s me. Who can we trust, Lou? Maybe a dozen guys? And I’m counting Gabe, who isn’t even in the ranks.”
I pull the knife from the captive’s throat and hold his hair to access his forehead.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m branding him as a defector. We have to send a message to both sides of this war.”
I take my time carving traitor into his skin and stitching his mouth shut with thick red string.
Nerves thrum through my body, causing my arms to tingle. I wipe my hands on my pants legs as my car idles outside The Lofts, an upscale apartment complex on the north side of town.
I hate that I’m anxious, but that’s exactly what I’m feeling.
